of boston



Dec. 3, 1929. E. c. AMSDEN 1,738,220

CLOSURE FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS Filed May 1, 1928 Patented Dec. 3, 1929 PATENT OFFICE EUGENE C. AMSDEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AM SDEN it BARNABD,

INCL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS CLOSURE FOB DISPENSING CONTAINERS Application filed May 1, 1928. Serial No. 274,260.

This invention relates to collapsible dispensing tubes of the character commonly use in marketing toothpaste, shaving cream, cold cream, and the like.

The type of tube most commonly used has a nozzle which is externally threa ed to take a screw threaded cap. The objectionable features of this construction are well recognized.

Among these objections may be mentioned particularly the inconvenience of handling the cap, the danger of losing it, and the fact that the threaded nozzle becomes coated with the paste, cream, or other contents of the tube, and thus requires the exercise of some care to keep the device in a clean and sanitary condition. Notwithstanding these objections this type of closure is still used almost universally, chiefly because of the price advantage which it offers as compared to other constructions designed for the same purpose. The ractical difliculties encountered in manufacturing most of the latter constructions also is a serious obstacle to their use. With these considerations in view it is the chief object of the present invention to devise a closure for containers of this type which not only will avoid the objectionable features of the screw cap .type of closure, but which can also be manufactured as economically as the latter construction.

These collapsible dispensing tubes are usually made of some relatively soft metal, such as tin or aluminum, or of an alloy in which one or both of these metals is used. The usual practice is to make the tube, head and nozzle in a single piece by an extruding process. It is, therefore, one of the objects of this invention to devise a construction which will lend itself conveniently to manufacture by this process.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fi re 1 is a perspective view of a collapsible ispensing tube provided with a closure 50 embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view on a larger scale of the closure construction, showing the cap separated from the nozzle;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the closure construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on a larger scale through the closure parts of the device shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawings the sleeve or body portion of the tube is indicated at 2, the head of the tube at 3, and the discharge nozzle at 4. This nozzle is hollow, opening directly into the body portion of the tube, and it is provided with an end portion 5 of tapered or approximately conical form. A discharge port 6 is formed through this tapered or conical portion of the nozzle.

Normally the port 6 is closed b a cap 7, the upper part of which is of conical form, while the lower part includes a projecting flange or base portion 8. The cap 7 has an internal conical surface to fit snugly on the conical end 5. It is held in its operative relationship to the nozzle by a pivot stud 9, preferably formed inte a1 with the part 5 of the nozzle, and projecting axially therefrom, the outer end of this stud being headed over the top of the cap, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, to prevent any substantial bodily movement of the cap away from the nozzle. At the same time this construction permits the cap to turn on the nozzle, and the cap is provided with a discharge aperture 10 which may be moved by turning the cap into or out of register with the discharge port 6 in the nozzle 4.

It is important to prevent any substantial quantity of thecream, paste, or other contents of the tube from workin in between the conical or tapered surfaces 0 the nozzle and cap. This is desirable from a sanitary standpoint and it is also important for functional reasons when the tube is used in dispensing tooth paste, shaving cream, or other products which would harden when exposed to the air for any substantial length of time. While the pivot stud 9 will prevent the cap 7 from separating from thenozzle, it is decidedly preferable to provide means additional to this stud to hold the tapered surface of the cap 7 closely in contact with the tapered surface 5, both when the cap is open and also when it is in its closed position. For this purpose two cam surfaces 11 and 12 are formed in the outer surface of the wall of the nozzle 4, as best shown in Fig. 2, and a lug 13 is punched in from the lower portion of the cap 7 to cooperate with these cam surfaces. Preferably this construction is duplicatcd at the opposite side of the nozzle, the lug at the latter side being indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 at 13, and cam surfaces corresponding to those shown at 11 and 12 being provided to cooperate with the latter lug. \Vhen the cap 7 is in its closed position the lug 13 will be in contact with one of the cam surfaces 11 or 12, and when the cap is turned into its open position, that is, with the aperture 10 in register with the port 6, the lug then will be in contact with the other cam surface. The same condition will be true of the lug 13' and its cooperating cams. The turning movement of the cap from one position to another crowds the lugs 1313' against their cooperating cams, and these parts thus hold the conical surface of the cap closely in contact with the conical surface of the nozzle in either the open or closed position of the cap. Consequently, any opportunity for the material in the tube to work in between the conical surfaces of the nozzle and cap is effectually avoided. It is preferable, also, to provide ribs 15-15 at opposite sides of the nozzle 4 which may serve as stops for the lugs l313' to limit the rotative movement of the cap on the nozzle, although usually such movement will be limited by the cams before the lugs strike the parts 15-15.

lVhile considerable variation in the degree of taper of the parts 5 and 7 is permissible, it is preferable to make the taper somewhere between 30 and 60.

If the tube is made by the usual extruding process, the nozzle 4, head 3, and body 2 of the tube will all be made integral. This is the preferred construction. The pressure exerted on the stock positioned between the extruding dies forces the metal into the cavities of the dies and shapes the nozzle very accurately. The cam surfaces and pivot stud 9 can readily be produced in this same operation, a split die bein used to permit the removal of the work a ter the extruding step has been completed. The cap is made in a separate operation by suitable punches and dies.

In assembling the cap on the nozzle the cap is slipped down over the nozzle from a position such as that shown in Fig. 2, the lugs 1313 passing through cut-outs or spaces such as that shown at 14, Fig. 2, provided between the cam surfaces 11 and 12. The turning of the cap in either direction then causes its lugs to cooperate with the cam to draw it down tightly on the nozzle, and the end of the stud 9 then is spun over to produce the head, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. I consider it preferable to make the port 6 and aperture 10 after the assembling operations have been completed. The cap can then be turned into the position which will be its open position and both apertures formed simultaneously by milling. This avoids any problems of registration of the parts which might prove troublesome if they were made prior to the assembling operation, and it also gives a thin edge to the opening in the cap which makes it easier to keep the parts clean.

The fact that the manufacturing operations are completed on both the nozzle and the cap before they are assembled, no shaping of either of these parts (other than the headin of the stud 9 and the milling of the parts? being required after they are brought together, is an important advantage from a manufacturing stand oint. This permits the accurate shaping of t e nozzle and cap so that they will fit properly when assembled, which would be impossible if any shaping of either part to fit the other had to be done after the assembling operation.

While the pivot stud could be made separate from the nozzle, it is preferable to use the integral construction shown since this avoids the presence of another aperture through the nozzle which might leak and thus prove troublesome.

It will be evident that the device shown is substantially more convenient to use and is more sanitary than the ordinary screw cap type of closure. In addition it can be manufactured fully as economically as the cap construction. The cap herein shown can be manufactured very satisfactorily from aluminum, whereas it has, I am advised, been the practice to make the screw cap of tin or some material more expensive than aluminum.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it will be understood that variations may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. A closure for collapsible dispensing tubes, comprising a hollow discharge nozzle having a tapered end portion, said nozzle having a discharge port formed through the tapered surface of said end portion, a cap for said nozzle having a tapered surface to fit the tapered surface of said end portion, said cap having a discharge aperture therethrough and being mounted to turn on said nozzle to move said aperture into an open or closed relationship to said discharge port, and two oppositely inclined cams formed in the wall of said nozzle, said cap having a lug cooperating with said cams to hold said tapered surfaces in contact with each other in both the open and closed positions of the A closure for collapsible dispensing tubes, comprising a hollow discharge nozzle having a tapered end ortion, said nozle having a discharge port ormed through the tapered surface of said end portion, a cap for said nozzle having a tapered surface to fit the tapered surface of said end portion, said cap having a discharge aperture therethrough and being mounted to turn on said nozzle to move said aperture into an open or closed relationship to said discharge port, and two oppositely inclined cams formed in the wall of said nozzle, said cap having a lug cooperating with said cams to hold said tapered surfaces in contact with each other in both the open and closed positions of the cap, the material of said nozzle being cut away to permit the assage of said lug by bodily movement of t e cap toward the nozzle, whereby the In may be brought into cooperative relations ip to said cam surfaces in assembling the parts.

3. A closure for collapsible dispensing tubes, comprising a hollow discharge nozzle having a tapered end portion,said nozzle having a discharge port formed through the tapered surface of said end portion, a cap for said nozzle having a tapered surface to fit the tapered surface of sald end portion, said cap having a discharge aperture therethrough and being mounted to turn on said nozzle to move said aperture into an open or closed relationship to said discharge port, two oppositely inclined cams formed in the wall of said nozzle, the material of said nozzle being cut away between said cams, said cap having a lug cooperating with said cams to hold sa1d tapered surfaces in contact with each other in both the open and closed positions of the cap, said cutaway portion permitting the entrance of said lug into cooperative relationship to said cam surfaces during the assemblin of the cap on the nozzle.

4. A closure or collapsible dispensing tubes, comprising a hollow discharge nozzle having a tapered end portion, said nozzle having a discharge port formed through the tapered surface of said end portion, a cap for said nozzle having a tapered surface to fit the tapered surface of said end portion, said ca having a discharge aperture therethroug and being mounted to turn on said nozzle to move said aperture into an open or closed relationship to said discharge port, two oppositely inclined cams formed in the wall of said nozzle, said cap having a lug cooperating with said cams to hold said tapered surfaces in contact with each other in both the open and closed positions of the cap, and means additional to said cams and lug for holding said cap in cooperative relationship to said nozzle.

EUGENE C. AMSDEN. 

